I may have stood outside my house naked last night, screaming into the sky: “End simulation! END SIMULATION!”
— John Rogers (@jonrog1) November 11, 2016
After much not-so-gentle prodding on my part, the Spousal Unit (aka, my personal Tech Expert) decided this would be a good time to decruft my laptop and update some programs. The latest version of Pale Moon is giving him fits (although, Goddess take the wheel, I’m managing okay so far) and he’s muttering about switching platforms to… something.
So if I’m not around tomorrow evening, blame it on the Trickster God’s minions in the computer industry…
.
I can’t believe Dec 31st, 2015 was only 10 years ago
— Freddie Campion (@FreddieCampion) December 31, 2016
My final editorial cartoon for 2016. Please share. #DeathStar #laloalcaraz pic.twitter.com/zmM7zofrqs
— Mexican Judge (@laloalcaraz) December 28, 2016
Steve in the ATL
Do people really post in the middle of the night?
SFBayAreaGal
Well Steve you and I are posting. It’s only 12:30am here on the west coast.
Happy New Year
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: Yes.
BillinGlendaleCA
@SFBayAreaGal: The night(and the New Year) is young here on the west coast.
opiejeanne
@Steve in the ATL: What is this ATL which you are in? It has been troubling me.
JordanRules
Happy New Year BJ!
Wee hours thread from AL, comforting as always.
Thanks from this insomniac!
opiejeanne
@BillinGlendaleCA: The neighbors must have found some more fireworks in the garage. I thought we were done with the noise. The cat is not too happy about it.
BillinGlendaleCA
Traffic light trace though “The Slot”(US101 though Downtown LA).
BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: My Nikki(the Cocker) was rather displeased with the fireworks here.
DonkeyKong
2016 is done and buried in the frozen ground. The 20th of January will be the true change. Not of a year but of an era. May the room we enter spin but the floor never drop. Happy New Era juicers!
opiejeanne
@BillinGlendaleCA: Gorgeous. There is a place on Treasure Island, between Oakland and SF, where you used to be able to look down on the bridge. At night it was gorgeous. I always wanted to get a photograph of that.
TheMightyTrowel
2017 well underway here on the planet’s underside. Mr. Trowel has been doing more diy than usual over the break. He just finished hanging a new door out to the verandah – 4th door in 6 days. I’m very impressed.
For my part I’ve spent today reading becky chambers’ new novel – the second in the wayfarer series and highly recommended!
Calouste
Well, I guess 2017 is going to be better… than 2018. It’s all going to go downhill for a number of years.
magurakurin
@Steve in the ATL: it’s 6:30pm on the first here. we just finished our sukiyaki New Year dinner.
fuckwit
@Calouste: Unfortunately, true.
I’d predict that each year is going to suck more than the last for a couple decades at least.
Steve in the ATL
@opiejeanne: Atlanta! ATL is the airport code here.
4:30 am here. I probably shouldn’t have done that last eight ball….
Gator90
My wife and I did not intend to be parents who allow their children to sleep in their bed, but as soon as they could walk they started joining us in the middle of the night and we didn’t have the heart to make them stop. Now they’re getting bigger and they are still doing it, and there’s not enough room for me, so here I am, wide awake on the East Coast, sharing inane details of my life while I wait for the football to start.
As others have observed, the eagerness of many to be rid of 2016 is somewhat mystifying. We will soon be thinking of 2016 as a golden age.
EDIT: Their ages are still in single digits; I just wanted to make that clear.
Steve in the ATL
@magurakurin: konbanwa!
Major Major Major Major
@Steve in the ATL: just confirming the answer is still yes.
magurakurin
ohayogozaimasu!
opiejeanne
@Steve in the ATL:
Thanks. I thought it might be but didn’t pick up on it being the airport code.
opiejeanne
@Major Major Major Major: I’m still awake, but not for long.
Major Major Major Major
@opiejeanne: I’m just now in the Lyft home. I broke my rule (always leave the party when you’re having fun) so I’m kind of bummed.
mai naem mobile
Happy fucking New Year! Wishing all a happy, healthy, wealthy, witty and wise 2017 because we’re going to néedo all!
EBT
@Steve in the ATL: You should go to wonkette where the disallowed noncomments flow all night.
NotMax
Gads, a lot of fireworks set off tonight. Still going on, at 12:30 a.m. The sound of detritus and (presumably) ash raining down onto the roof not reassuring. Glad it’s still raining.
Whether you’re winding down for the night or winding up for the day, Good Night and Good Morning.
Pogonip
Let’s hope he was 2016’s last casualty: Wlliam Christopher died Saturday, age 84.
OzarkHillbilly
The question was “Do people really post in the middle of the night?” Your species status remains questionable.
EBT
My little place in the heart? of Sacramento had perhaps 10 minutes of fireworks and I heard a fire truck race past on the express way some time after, but it’s been quiet here. All college students and disabled people so a lot of chance for shenanigans.
NotMax
@NotMax
For the sake of clarity, referred to fireworks set off in the neighborhood; none by me. Comfy inside, sipping champagne and puffing an expensive (gift) and quite pleasant stogie.
Applejinx
@Calouste:
Bollocks to that. I survived 2016. It even killed the payment processor for my company, and I’m still running my Patreon and still porting my lifework to Windows (soon also Linux) VST completely for free. I’m making more and more videos about things like how to hack $80 Chinese action-cams and install bass pickups and I WILL dedicate my life to giving people the creative tools they need to have a vivid, persuasive voice.
We will negotiate these coming years somehow, and much like Tony Stark (yeah I watched the Avengers movie recently) we will look back on these times as a terrible privilege.
THIS is our revolution. We didn’t ask for it, in fact we asked for ‘prudent inclusive incrementalism please’, but the OTHER revolutionaries were greedy and jumped too soon, and went for ‘just rule everything, as it is! What could go wrong?’. They’ll find out.
OUR future. Not theirs.
NotMax
TCM may be trying to tell us something about ’17 – it’s Hitchcock all the way down all day and night for the 1st.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: That’s almost enough to make me miss TV, but not quite. I have 6 Hitchcocks on DVD. I haven’t seen The Birds in forever. I thought it absolutely terrifying when I was a kid. The ending was especially creepy (as I remember it) where Tippi Hedron walks out and the whole town is covered in birds and they just sit there and watch her.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Here’s the line-up:
Rope
Strangers on a Train
Torn Curtain
Family Plot
Psycho
Marnie
The Birds
Vertigo
Rear Window
Shadow of a Doubt
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 version)
The Trouble With Harry
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: What? No Cary Grant? Good lineup. I don’t know Strangers on a Train, Family Plot, or believe it or not, Marnie (it tickles my memory but reading the film bio I got nothing). I love The Trouble with Harry, too funny.
Baud
No regular morning thread? Not an auspicious start to the new year.
Happy New Year.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
An unmade Hitchcock film was to be a modern version of Hamlet with Cary Grant playing the lead.
satby
Happy New Year, morning crew and overnight stalwarts. Still dark here even though it’s after 7:15 am. And no holiday for me, I have to work today. I’m already tired.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Too much fun last night
@NotMax: That would have been good.
@satby: I needed a trencher for a day. Tried to rent it for Friday, booked. But I could pick it up Friday afternoon and have it for the wkend… The extended wkend: Dec 31, Jan 1st, Jan 2nd, the shop would be closed all 3 days. Your boss is a big ole meanie.
NotMax
@satby
Memorable four-panel newspaper comic strip still kick myself for not cutting out and preserving:
Panel 1: Strip regular (a talking dog) sitting asleep, back against a tree
Panel 2: Stretches and yawns, waking up
Panel 3: Looks around
Panel 4: (addressing the reader) “Man, this is a dull town. I just woke up and I’m bored already.”
So long ago that can’t even recall the name of the strip.
Raven
It ain’t bad here, 40 and drizzle.
Raven
The college girl at the bakery register asked if I was hung over? “The last time I was hungover was before you were born”!
NotMax
@Raven
Projection?
OzarkHillbilly
Just for Kay:
-Kurt Eichenwald
BretH
@Applejinx Extremely cool, what you’re doing. Carpe diem in action.
Raven
@NotMax: I suspect she says it to this small group of old men regulars who are here every day. I also suspect these kids wouldn’t even say hello if it wasn’t part of their job.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Nice, but one voice isn’t a chorus. Waiting for the rest of them to grow a spine.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Could be a long wait.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
He speaks the truth
JPL
@rikyrah: Good Morning!
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: expecting that it will be.
rikyrah
@Raven:
LOL ???
bemused
I love the cartoon by Mexican Judge at top.
Patricia Kayden
Happy New Year, all you good folk of BJ! Catching up on Murdoch Mysteries before I start the running around. We’ll survive the Trumpocalypse together.
Baud
@rikyrah: Morning.
Baud
@satby: Need to find out who the good reporters are and promote them.
EBT
@Patricia Kayden: I love that the autistic catholic 1890s police detective is more tolerant to change than the average american today.
Alain the site fixer
Happy New Year and good morning to all! Hope y’all had a fun and safe time and hopefullly we will find our new year brim-full of possibility and good fortune! Time to make some rice and prep for the first goat curry of the new year…
OzarkHillbilly
@Patricia Kayden:
What about the rest of us?
MomSense
@Baud:
Well that should be easy since there are only two.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
I think I like this Carrie/Leia cartoon better.
With bonus fundraising for the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.
Baud
@MomSense: Gotta start somewhere.
Baud
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Heh.
satby
On a positive note, my missing rugs were traced and delivered, so yay! Making slow process in getting the house in order.
Baud
@satby: 2017 is looking better already.
satby
@NotMax: Citizen Dog, maybe? I used to enjoy that comic when I caught it.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: There are good reporters at alt weekly’s like Seattle’s The Stranger, or the High Country News.
gene108
Happy New Year!!!
Zinsky
Liberals, and free-thinking people of all political persuasions, need to give Donald Trump the respect he deserves – which is absolutely none. He ran the dirtiest, most dishonest campaign in American history. Telling endless lies, exhorting his followers to commit violence, convincing the brain-dead among them that Hillary Clinton deserved to go to prison for something that no one has ever gone to prison for and isn’t even a crime (using a private e-mail server) and for which they were unable to produce even one e-mail that showed criminality or lack of concern for national security. Then, to top it all off, the Russian government allows hackers to infiltrate Trump’s political opponent’s e-mail and God knows what other American sites and rather than condemning the Russian actions, Trump praises and encourages it!
No, this vile man deserves zero respect and really should be on trial for seditious behavior. We need to revive the lost art of throwing rotten vegetables and rotten eggs at rotten politicians and Donald Trump and his cabinet should be the prime targets. Pelt this moronic man with every rotten thing you can get your hands on, every chance he foolishly appears in public. We need to shame, disgrace and disrespect this monster, until he is chased from office in four years as the most corrupt, ineffective and disrespectful president in history!
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
You’re right. There are probably more like a dozen! ?
Baud
@MomSense: Vanity Fair and Teen Vogue seem to making a name for themselves.
MomSense
@Zinsky:
He hasn’t made a single good faith attempt to be gracious or welcoming to the majority of voters who picked his opponent. He hasn’t earned any respect, good will or benefit of the doubt from any of us.
MomSense
@Baud
They are doing some actual reporting. It stands out.
Applejinx
DO SOMETHING GOOD. Doing shitty things to shitty Trump will not make you feel better. Out-good him, don’t join him.
I realize this is a low bar to set, but seriously. Do good.
Baud
@MomSense: Right. Who was talking about them even two months ago?
Trump may have the effect of clearing out some of our deadwood and allowing new people to shine. It’s wide open now.
Elizabelle
Good morning.
May 2017 be happier than we think it’s going to be. Karma can be a bitch, and a fast-acting one, sometimes.
Elizabelle
@Applejinx: Excellent advice.
PaulWartenberg2016
feeling a bit of a sore throat this morning, I’m hoping it’s just from not sleeping well last night.
sad thing about hoping this year is better? we already know (trump) damn well (ryan budget) that 2017 (scotus justice far right of SCALIA FOR GOD’S SAKE) is gonna suck rhino. the best we can plan for is a sustained, focused and long-term resistance.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Happy New Year, EB.
TS
@OzarkHillbilly:
Nice if someone in the media would point to Barack Obama’s tax returns – showing how you can give to charity without making a song & dance about it. Example 1 – Nobel Prize. Examples 2 to n – every tax return released.
Baud
@PaulWartenberg2016: Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, focus often depends on other people doing horrible things.
OzarkHillbilly
@Applejinx: I bring my wife coffee in bed every morning. That’s more good in one morning than Trump does all month.
Elizabelle
@Baud: It will be, if you stay around, you hear?
In a hotel, visiting family. The fire alarm went off four to five times last night! Got to be where, once it blew, all us guests ignored it.
Wondering if that is a metaphor for 2017. Trump’s strategy?
p.a.
Happy New Year Juicers! Well… hoping at least.
zhena gogolia
С Новым Годом, дорогие друзья!
Надеюсь, что добро победит!
Baud
@Elizabelle: M^4 is working on a roboBaud. It’ll be OK.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Don’t worry, the GOP has that covered.
Baud
@zhena gogolia: You are ready for our brave new world.
Schlemazel
@satby:
gocomics.com carries citizen dog
Crappy New Year everyone!
since the opposite of what I want is what happens I figure that is the right greeting from me to you all
Immanentize
Compiments of the New Year, morning folks. I’m In Texas outside oh Houston for the week at the in laws. It’s nice to be away from the sleet, etc. for a few days. We are going to catch some movies, play some board games, eat a lot of food and see some of the peculiar sites this city offers — including the odd Buffalo Bayou Cistern downtown Houston.
Immanentize
@Schlemazel: That reminds me of some of my older Jewish friends who would never say a baby is cute for fear of it turning out the opposite. “Not the prettiest baby I’ve ever seen” or “I’m sure he’ll grow into those ears.” It sounded harsh but everyone knew it was all part of their love and worry.
debbie
@Baud:
The church next door didn’t have its morning service today. Weird.
Baud
@Immanentize: What do they say if the baby really is ugly?
Baud
@debbie: Rapture?
Elizabelle
@Baud: Accept no robo substitutes.
Enough fakery out there. We demand the genuine Baud. Non-negotiable.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Happy New Year!
debbie
@Baud:
A car just parked in the lot. I guess they called off the early service. Very strange.
Denali
@Immanentize,
Buffalo Bayou Citern reminds me sadly of the beautiful Cistern in Istanbul. We visited Istanbul in 2008 and loved it, never dreaming that it would be overtaken by the nightmares in the Middle East. It is a fascinating, lovely city, with great food, shopping, and so much history. What is happening now in Turkey is heartbreaking.
debbie
The NYE gunfire lasted 22 minutes and for the first time started before midnight. I have to figure out how to turn that into a good omen.
satby
@Baud: we couldn’t get that lucky
Baud
@Elizabelle: In fact, roboBaud beta testing has already begun. Can you tell the difference?
MomSense
I think we should put together a naughty and nice list of businesses for this year. The Republican establishment only cares about money and tax breaks. We keep appealing to them about the human misery their policies cause and these appeals are ignored because they don’t care at all about people. They do care about money so I think we should send messages they understand. Maybe one of the tech capable people here can help us compile lists of goods and services that aren’t run by assholes. Then maybe we can also start going after media outlets and hold them accountable for their advertisers.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Great idea.
JPL
@debbie: On NYE you can use fireworks until two in the morning on New Year’s Day. The neighbors behind me took advantage of the extended time. ugh
RedDirtGirl
@OzarkHillbilly:
Thanks! Just bookmarked those links! Here’s to having fun together in 2017! Humor is a great tool for helping to maintain one’s sanity.
And here’s to using our voices for good. My
new(-ish) fellow gave me an American Button Machine for Christmas. My 14 yo niece made buttons for what our family is calling The Nasty Woman March. She copied a tattoo she found on the Internet of a uterus. One of the Fallopian tubes is displaying its middle finger.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Beat me to it.
RedDirtGirl
@Zinsky:
AMEN!!!!!!
debbie
@JPL:
Fireworks would be worse because the pops are so random. I’ve noticed the more the cops ask people not to fire off their weapons, the more people fire them off. I wish they’d try saying nothing one year, just to see what happens.
@MomSense:
This is a great idea.
Jeffro
Good morning and happy 2017 everyone!
I haven’t made any New Years’ resolutions in a few years…and it shows…so I think this year I’ll go with a few of the traditional ones: eat better, eat less, drink less, work out more, spend less (especially books!), and get outside more regardless of the weather.
Also trying to decide if I should take a class in Spanish or writing, as both skills are rusty and need a lot of work!
eclare
@RedDirtGirl: Sounds like an awesome design!
Aleta
Lock him up.
MomSense
@Jeffro:
I’m taking Spanish lessons for free on duolingo. Perhaps you could do both?
Hill Dweller
The Twitter machine is telling me Trump promises a “revelation” this week about the Russian hacking. His entire Presidency is going to be a series of publicity stunts.
Schlemazel
@Baud:
We’re soaking in it?
p.a.
stolen quotes:
Helaine Olen (Slate): things can always get worse. Also no matter how bad things are, my mood will improve dramatically if I go out and hear live music.
The Wall Street Ranter: it is extremely hard to underestimate the intelligence of US voters.
Kid Dynamite (Kid Dynamite’s World): the movie Idiocracy was a prophecy, not a comedy.
Cathleen Ritt (Rockettes, 2004-2007): I learned that a lot of people really want to work in factories. (commenter addition: and coal mines!)
Nelson Braff (Hunt & Fish Club NYC): it’s easier to make Donald Trump president than the NY Jets relevant. (commenter addition: pro sports, at least, tends towards meritocracy)
Justin Frankel (RiverPark Funds): no other investment yields higher returns the time you invest being with your friends and family.
MomSense
@Hill Dweller:
He apparently is also planning to put his own people in the intelligence community.
Jeffro
@MomSense:
Yes, definitely! Between Duolingo and conversing with my daughter (who’s in her 3rd year of HS Spanish), I can probably bring my language skills up to speed. I’ll look into writing classes later today – there’s still time to sign up for the spring semester.
Jeffro
@Hill Dweller: His ‘revelation’ is going to be something stupid like “Roger Stone assured me that…” or “The DNC hacked itself to try and smear me, obviously…” – something utterly without evidence and/or slamming Democrats.
Meanwhile, every US intelligence and law-enforcement agency has been, and will continue to be, telling him it’s Russia.
I swear I’m picking up a couple booklets of McDonald’s coupons and mailing them to Trump Tower today.
debbie
@MomSense:
I don’t think he has the power to do that. I can’t imagine he’d get support from his own party on that.
Elizabelle
@Jeffro:
@MomSense:
My “resolution”: using News in Slow Spanish. Has a transcript and audio. Could be useful. Can choose European or Latin American Spanish.
Available in other languages, too. French could be good.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Oh cool.
japa21
@Hill Dweller: It will be one of three things:
1. Putin assured me that Russia had nothing to do with it and that the US administration was behind it. And we all know Putin is totally honest.
2. I can’t disclose my sources, but I know for a fact, based upon those sources, that the Russians had nothing to do with it.
3. During my meeting with the intelligence community, they told me A, B and C. (Note: A, B and C are all considered classified information.)
RobertDSC-iPad Mini
A minor good thing: one of my iPad slot machine games clicked over into a jackpot, netting me 1.2 billion game credits.
That’s a new record for me.
mai naem mobile
@Elizabelle: I’ve personally never seen karma on something big be quick. The fast karma is usually stupid little shit. But, Lumpy has been an asshole doing assholy things for decades so I am hoping this presidency thing that he thinks is going to be great for him, will actually end up being a long brewing karmic event that ends up being the biggest POTUS scandal evah!
WaterGirl
Happy New Year. It’s hard for me to write that because I’m mostly experiencing fear and dread at the thought of what lies ahead with Donald Trump. I don’t have much faith in our institutions to save us, but I do have immense faith that Barack Obama is not going to stand idly by while they burn everything down.
I am happy to ring in the new year with all of you at Balloon Juice, and I have it on good authority that we must all hang together or we will surely all hang separately. (I’m looking at you, Baud.)
I have the respiratory crud that’s going around, and I have to say it’s not much fun. Still, I am going to start a gratitude journal because I most definitely do not want to turn into one of those fearful angry people who put that piece of shit in the whitehouse. I don’t want us to do to ourselves what the country did after 9/11- we did far more damage to our country than Bin Laden ever did – he may be dead but he surely had the last laugh. I am determined not to let the orange-haired piece of shit turn me into a bitter, angry person. I am going to need you guys to help me stay on track.
Aleta
@japa21: 4. Obama wasn’t nice to me and Puutie. Traitor. I will save you America.
Corner Stone
@Hill Dweller:
Where is the new property located he is getting ready to open? Git yer cameras rollin’, boys!
Corner Stone
I also just saw a blurb of Trump saying he knew some things others didn’t know (re: hacking). He is still, full on denying what the entire IC is saying, and if he would take briefings he would probably also learn that multiple allies IC’s are also in concurrence. They are all in full “out loud voice” about how concerned they are that Russia doesn’t do to them what they did to the US.
laura
@rikyrah: wishing you good things in the New Year.
Corner Stone
I think I need a nap. 2017 has really taken it outta me.
Emma
@Elizabelle: There are a lot of good beginner readers for many languages in Amazon. I got a couple of the Portuguese ones, but I think the best collection is in French. Many of them are free from time to time. If you are at the intermediate level they are amazingly helpful.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Good morning, rikyrah. Is this your first good morning since the election?
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: A gratitude journal is a great idea. There are always helpers, and a silver lining.
@mai naem mobile: Trump might yet take the Republican party apparatus down. Guess we just have to be more patient than we would have expected.
If the media’s beds burn, too, it’s their own damn fault.
amygdala
Happy New Year, everyone. However much I fear 2017 will somehow be worse, I live in hope it will be better. A lot better.
Just about done packing for a late flight tonight. Going back to Haiti for a couple of weeks of volunteer work. Since my connecting flight is through Fort Lauderdale, it occurs to me that next time, assuming #ThinOrangeSkin doesn’t ban global health work, I should tack on a side trip to Cape Canaveral or the Keys. Weigh in, Floridians, about other places I should see in your fair state.
Again, thank you for the constant reminder that there’s a network of good folks out there who care about critters other than their own and people other than themselves. That’s so important these days.
HeleninEire
@Corner Stone: Someone needs to ask him if he knows more than Obama. Cuz he’ll answer “yes.”
Nicole
Happy New Year. My 6-year-old went for a sleepover at the downstairs neighbor’s, so husband and I watched Train to Busan, a Korean zombie apocalypse flick, then went to bed. I awoke to discover our dog had thrown up on the couch. It seemed a fitting way to welcome the next four years.
(None of this should be seen as criticism of Train to Busan, which was excellent and I highly recommend to fellow horror fans.)
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Happy New Year, WaterGirl. I saw something on FB a few days ago that I’m going to try for 2017. Once a week, write a note about the best thing that happened to you that week. Fold it up and put it in a jar. At the end of the year, read through the notes and see whether the year turned out to be better than you thought it might.
JPL
@Corner Stone: He’ll let us know additional details on Tuesday or Wednesday. My guess is his son did it, in the gold room.
laura
Oh joy, I’m driving down I-5 for 2 hours to walk a picket line for 6 hours and drive back to Sacramento in 2 hours.
The employers at Saputo Dairy have decided that their employees no longer have health care coverage because reasons, but mostly to become more competitive and profits.
raven
Sound familiar?
since ya’ll are all so freaky about the NYT I won’t put the link in.
Central Planning
Happy January 1, everybody. Here’s to hoping 2017 kicks the ass of the WWC that voted for trump.
O. Felix Culpa
Good New Year’s morning from New Mexico! Still recovering from the flu, but I ain’t dead yet. So one positive sign for 2017…and the BJ community is another. Heartfelt thanks to this pack of snarling jackals for being your wonderful selves.
germy
@raven: Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought Johnson didn’t want to go public because it would have revealed some bullshit he was involved in? I’m unclear on the details, and too hungover to research right now.
bemused
@Baud:
I didn’t even know there was a Teen Vogue magazine which isn’t surprising as I am 65, lol. I checked it out and was impressed with the great articles such as the interview with Michelle Obama and education for girls/young women. I’m happy to see there are now magazines for young females that weigh into serious issues. All I remember of teen magazines from the 60’s and 70’s were the teen idol/pop star type focusing on makeup, etc., although I never subscribed to then or bothered to read them, not interesting to me even when I was a teen. Yay for progress.
Librarian
@NotMax: Family Plot is one of my favorite Hitchcock movies, and his last. Very underrated.
Aleta
I heard this this morning. It’s beautiful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV_B-kzjYgY
Noam Pikelny – Waveland
Woodrowfan
@debbie: we just had one at 10 instead of one at 830 and another at 1100. Pretty good turnout
Woodrowfan
@bemused: win a date with Bobby Sherman or David cassidy!
bemused
@Woodrowfan:
Yes! Rolling my eyes and groaning.
Schlemazel
For those who have mentioned having to sit with pets freaked out last night, I present you with
HORROR MOVIE FOR PETS
http://www.gocomics.com/offthemark/2017/01/01
Its a single panel cartoon so totally safe for pets
debbie
@raven:
I didn’t realize anyone honestly doubted Nixon had subverted the election. What I didn’t know until this article was that he’d talked about wiretapping during his 1962 gubernatorial election. One a pig, always a pig. Makes me wonder about any earlier dishonesties of Reagan (we already know about Trump).
eclare
@Schlemazel: Hahaha, I can relate. Have never heard fireworks so loud in my neighborhood, definitely not firecrackers.
debbie
@Woodrowfan:
Yeah, there was a 10:00 here. I know the earliest service (recently moved from 8:00 to 9:00) was the only traditional service and mostly attended by the older members. Hopefully, it will be back on schedule next week.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I am already hung.
debbie
@Baud:
If you’re thinking seriously about leaving, know that this place won’t be the same without you.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Also Happy New Year, WG.
@debbie:
Happy New Year, debbie. I’m not not thinking about my future. I don’t want to be a drama queen about it, however. We’ll see how it goes. But thank you.
Another Scott
ObAiringofGrievances? One of our neighbors decided that having a very loud party with loud R&R music until 0215 was the way to welcome the new year.
And UBlock Origin is seemingly broken on Chrome on my ChromeBook.
(Grumble, grumble.)
/FirstWorldProblems
HNY, everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
JPL
@Another Scott: According to GA law, fireworks are allowed until two in the morning. Happy New Year indeed.
J R in WV
Stayed up last night, never heard a peep from outside! Went to bed right after 11 pm EST and read etc til early 2 am, with a tiny glass of good bourbon. Slept well, got up at 11 and made good coffee for myself and the wife, as usual.
Dog had investigated a nearly full trash bag, only retrieved an empty coffee bag. Now commenting with a purry big cat on my tummy. Didn’t go to the neighborhood NYE party, cold and rainy last night, just surfed the innertubes.
Life is OK, today. Happy New Year, good morning, all!
opiejeanne
@OzarkHillbilly: There’s also Farenthold at WaPo. He and Eichenwald deserve a Pulitzer for their work during the election.
Miss Bianca
Happy New Year, my dears.
So our New Year’s Day hunt turned into a New Year’s Eve hunt. Snow hock-deep in some places, the air chilly, but sun shining brightly and *no wind*, a most excellent thing. I had a chance to take a new horse into the field – Kodi, a darling little Arab gelding, who behaved beautifully on his first hunt – wading thru’ the snow and following the hounds like a pro. He had been a cow pony, so I guess he figured chasing hounds, chasing cows – all one to him! We didn’t scent anything, so it turned into a slow, cross-country trail ride with hounds, itself an excellent thing, far as i’m concerned.
We all retired to the greenhouse back at the ranch for hunt breakfast, rather than try to put out chairs in the snow at the hunt site. I had a chance to cuddle both ex-Office Kitties, as well as toss first Pancho, then Lefty, off the table as we were eating. Also had a chance to break out the new elder mead I had brewed, which went down very well.
Finally, as we were saying final good-byes, and wishing each other Happy New Year, I had a chance to mention my dread of the coming year, and the start of the Orange Shitgibbon’s regime, to my friend Kris. She opined that perhaps we shouldn’t be dreading it – that perhaps, the country needed to have all the latent racism, sexism, and bigotry that had been festering below the surface of society to rise up so unmistakably that no one could miss it – the better to lance it, lastingly. I am not as sanguine about it all as she seems to be, but I am damned if I’ll allow myself to brood and despair any longer.
So today on New Year’s Day I am doing all the things I want to do more of the in the coming year – reading, writing, playing music, stretching, walking the dogs, and baking. Among other things, like tidying my space. Here’s to a ferociously productive New Year, y’all!
No One You Know
New Year’s Day!
Everything is in bloom.
I feel about average.
–haiku by….Basho, I think.
NotMax
@Librarian
If memory serves, also has a score by John Williams.
WaterGirl
@debbie: That’s an intriguing idea. Thanks
WaterGirl
@Baud: My first thought was to reply with something about “well hung” but decided that would be too bawdy for a sunday morning. (pun intended)
Vheidi
@Jeffro: the library is your friend
No One You Know
I’m devoting the day to making ingredients I usually buy: shaved carrots in spicy garlic vinegar, Italian wedding soup from scratch, cardamom-and-rose vanilla sugar, preserved lemons. And one thing from the Moroccan cookbook I gave myself for Christmas.
ETA: Wonkette’s French Onion soup, also, too.
Hereby resolving to have one meal during the week that’s as good as anything I could buy from a franchise. Still supporting indie restaurants and bookstores, though :-)
Dog Dawg Damn
I’ve been reading an excellent book, “Worse than War”, about genocide, eliminationism, and their causes.
One thing that is clear is that the foundation for genocide exists in the U.S. at this point in time. All the pieces are there. That’s not anywhere near a guarantee it will happen (it usually doesn’t!), but it’s a disturbing thought.
That said, the ultimate analysis is that genocide usually begins because of authority sanctioning or proposing it. So, we are one Donald Trump meltdown away from an domestic eliminationist campaign. If this sounds alarmist, please visit twitter and see for yourself the widespread genocidal aspirations of Trump supporters. See rhetoric of Mike Flynn, Allen West, DJT Jr. . . . it’s not even subtle.
This is what wakes me up at night.